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The Christian Democratic Party is gearing up for the autumn general elections. At the party’s weekend conference in Prague, its leader Pavel Bělobrádek was re-elected by a strong majority and won approval for an election coalition with the grouping of Mayors and Independents, presenting the alliance as a guarantor of strength, democracy and security in the turbulent and often murky waters of Czech politics.

Defense Minister Martin Stropnický and Justice Minister Robert Pelikan will top the ballot list for ANO in Prague in this year's parliamentary elections, scheduled for October, a spokesperson confirmed. The third spot on the ballot will be the head of Prague's Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM) Věra Adámková. All three are heavy-hitters for ANO, a movement or party often described as well positioned to win the national election this autumn. A recent scandal and government crisis surrounding its head, Finance Minister Andrej Babiš, however, could affect ANO's chances.

Expat voters who plan to cast their ballot from abroad in the upcoming parliamentary election will vote among candidates in the region of Central Bohemia. The region, one of 14 in the Czech Republic, was drawn on Friday. The same region was on the ballot for expatriates last time Czechs went to the polls to elect a new government, in 2013. Czechs abroad looking to vote will have until September 10th to register. In the last election, 14,000 expats registered; three-quarters of those ended up casting their vote.

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka dropped a veritable bombshell on the Czech political scene on Tuesday in a surprise announcement his government would resign this week. He took the decision over his Deputy Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’ finances, but almost immediately drew fire for sinking what was regarded as a stable government. The decision to resign, above all, puts the next step in the hands of the president.

Bohuslav Sobotka’s announcement that he would hand in the resignation of his government over Finance Minister Andrej Babiš’s alleged misconduct has been a bombshell on the political scene. Indeed, commentators are suggesting the prime minister’s move is a risky, all-or-nothing gamble. How are things likely to play out? And what role might President Zeman play in resolving the situation? I discussed those questions and more with political commentator Jiří Pehe.

If elections were held this month ANO would triumph with 31.5 percent ahead of the Social Democrats on 12 percent, suggests a new opinion poll conducted for Czech Television by the Kantar TNS polling agency and published on Sunday. Closing in on the Social Democrats are the right-wing Civic Democrats, who would receive 11.5 percent, the survey indicates. It also puts the alliance of the Christian Democrats and the Mayors and Independents on 10.5 percent, ahead of the 10 percent the two would need together to cross the threshold to enter the lower house. Elections are scheduled for October.

The result of October’s general elections should not influence the Czech position in the Brexit talks, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka told the ctk news agency ahead of an EU summit on Brexit in Brussels. The leaders of 27 member states are due to meet on Saturday to try to set a common negotiating line in the Brexit talks. Mr. Sobotka said the Czech position was the result of a broad consensus between the ruling and opposition parties. The Czech Republic has highlighted protecting the rights of Czechs living and working in Great Britain and maintaining the present level of Czech exports to the country as its main priorities.

ANO would come first with 28.3 percent of the vote if elections were held this month, suggests a new opinion poll from the STEM agency. A STEM survey in March gave Andrej Babiš’s party 27.0 percent. Some 16.1 percent of respondents in April said they would give their vote to the Social Democrats, who saw a rise of 1.1 percent on the previous month. The Communists placed third with 12.2 percent backing, down on their polling numbers for March.

ANO chief Andrej Babiš says he is likely to head the party’s ticket in Central Bohemia in general elections in October. He made the comment in an interview with the news site Novinky.cz. The billionaire finance minister had previously said he would take the last spot on ANO’s candidates list in the constituency in order to test voters’ faith. An opinion poll released on Monday put ANO on 33.5 percent, with more than double the support of the second-placed Social Democrats, their current coalition partners.

The center-right Civic Democratic Party outlined its election program for October's general election and selected election leaders for individual regions at a conference in Prague on Saturday. Party leader Petr Fiala highlighted the party's intention to lower taxes and boost wage growth. The Civic Democrats have vowed to seek an exemption from euro adoption, promised to overturn the smoking ban due to go into effect at the end of May and scrap the law on electronic tax registers. According to the most recent polls the party would get 7.5 percent of the vote.